JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former Jacksonville smoothie shop owner says she was blindsided by a hidden noncompete at The Avenues Mall — one she claims was never disclosed in her lease. And it ultimately forced her to shut down after just five months.
Patrice Landers thought opening Juice Me Too in her hometown would be a fresh start. Before opening day, she even posted celebratory videos on Instagram. But she says things quickly soured when mall management questioned how many smoothies she planned to sell.
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According to Landers, they told her, “We have a tenant who has basically been grandfathered in that has exclusive rights to sell smoothies. And so there’s a conflict.”
Landers says her signed lease never mentioned any exclusivity for another smoothie shop. She says it even stated she had the right to sell smoothies, telling Action News Jax, “Our lease never said anything about another smoothie bar. It actually shows in our lease that we have the right to sell smoothies.”
Just days before her scheduled opening, she says the mall informed her that an existing business already held first dibs on selling smoothies.
She says that mall management then ordered her to remove all references to smoothies from her windows and menu. “Told me I had to remove all graphics from our windows. We had to come up with another name for smoothies,” she said.
So she improvised, renaming her shop “Cold Cups” — a label she and a team member made up on the spot. “When I gave management that name, we were told to put the graphics on the window and on the menu,” Landers said.
But she says the forced rebrand confused customers and affected sales. After five months, she shut down the Jacksonville location. “I’m running my business in Atlanta and we’re still suffering from the challenges that we faced and were exposed to in Jacksonville,” she said.
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The lawsuit argues that the mall withheld critical information about tenant restrictions — something attorney Randy Reep says happens more often than shoppers realize. He compares it to a small shoe store suddenly competing with a national chain next door. “If you’re a mom and pop shoe store, and the Foot Locker opened up next to you, the benefit of your bargain would be erased,” he said.
Reep says Landers’ situation happens more than you think. “It’s very common, and it has been since the beginning of businesses, that you want to protect the benefit of your bargain,” he said.
Action News Jax reached out to Simon Property Group, which owns The Avenues Mall, but the company did not respond. In court documents, however, the company denied all claims made by Landers.
The case now moves forward as Landers pushes for answers — and hopes the fight sheds light on how small businesses can be squeezed out of big malls.
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